Recent reviews by XD Timka

I have 99.9 hours. And I'm loving this Genshin-like game!

Влад, привет! зелье взрыза

I wrote a review for this game a while back. Back then, it was something like, “Meh, it’s not great,” and that “Meh, it’s not great” has been weighing on me like an unfinished gestalt. So now, I’m going to tear this game apart thoroughly and completely.

I won’t be able to neatly separate the pros and cons of this product, sorry.

The main point I want to get across to potential buyers is this: The first 5-10 hours will be fun and interesting, but after that, everything suddenly becomes unbearably boring.
The gameplay is genuinely engaging at first. The farming mechanics are decent, and exploring the environment is enjoyable. But once you hit year five, that’s it. No new gameplay, no new mechanics, no new bosses, no build diversity. There are characters!!! but by the late game, only one or two of them will be viable, depending on your preferences.

The metaprogression is awful. It’s just grind, grind, grind for perks like a slight chance to drop a seed from a mob, a tiny crit chance boost, or increasing the day length by a whopping 5 seconds!!!! Simply put, these “chances” have almost no impact on the gameplay. Nothing about your actions will change.

As for the gameplay itself, which initially felt fresh and interesting, it quickly becomes repetitive. For example, I thought that during a run, I’d be able to build around the abilities that drop. And yeah, that’s technically true, but again, the game doesn’t give a ♥♥♥♥ what you pick—just pick something. It all works somehow, but how? Who the hell knows.

My biggest complaint: By year eight, the game turns into a complete cluster♥♥♥♥. The character hitboxes are unbelievably bad—some of the worst I’ve ever seen in my life. Add to that the terrible bullet-hell mechanics. I’ve 100% completed Enter the Gungeon, so I know what I’m talking about.
All the projectiles look the same, even though they fly on completely different trajectories and at different speeds (Enter the Gungeon somehow managed to handle this, by the way). There are WAY TOO MANY enemies. They spawn, they shoot, and you take damage because your hitbox is garbage.

The interesting farming mechanics lose their charm because, surprise surprise, the farm is also a complete mess, and not just at night. I took almost half of my damage on the farm because I had to plant crops while projectiles were flying at me from every direction. It’s not fun—it’s infuriating.

This review might sound like a skill issue, and you can think what you want, but I don’t think I’m bad at the game. I don’t think I lack reaction time or understanding of the mechanics. The difficulty of this game comes from its sheer unfairness toward the player.

To top it all off, I want to mention one more thing. Everything I’ve described above applies only to the mode now called “Classic.” I have no idea WHY the developers even added a “Non-Classic” mode because it turns the game from a farming-shooter hybrid into just a shooter. And as I’ve already said, the shooting mechanics in this game are nothing to brag about. In the “Non-Classic” mode, the amount of chaos on the screen exceeds all reasonable limits. I don’t understand the developers—this mode isn’t faster, isn’t more dynamic, it’s just as boring but also stripped down. It’s sad, really.

I’d say this: The developers tried to implement some cool ideas. The result is highly questionable for a game that’s supposed to last 5+ hours with the rogue-lite tag. The addition of the “Non-Classic” mode makes it seem like the developers themselves didn’t understand what they wanted to do with the game or what players were supposed to get out of it.

I’d rate it, reluctantly, a 5/10, and only because the first few hours were fun. But nothing more—I really didn’t like how it progressed.

DIG DEEP, DRINK BEER A LOT, OH YEEEEAAAAH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

1000 часов, ыыы